Irish bagpipes solo, HMV IM525. Rowsome's playing of the Boys of the Lough puts to rest the notion that he was merely an "Open piper," being chock full of precisely played staccato that is the equal of anybody (despite one squawk on the bottom D that is one of his rare recorded slipups). In fact I think he plays it a bit more staccato than Patsy Touhey did, and Touhey was the ne plus ultra of that sort of piping. Leo's setting of this grand old reel is very nice; Felix Doran played it on his Last of the Travelling Pipers LP, and private recordings exist of Tommy Reck and Seamus Ennis playing it as well, to just name pipers. Michael Coleman's very pipish fiddle recording was much emulated as well. Coleman's record was titled "Boys at the Lough" by the way; a good name for a band, perhaps.
The Green Mountain is another old chestnut; Liam Walsh also put it on a 78 and this recording will be featured on this site. Walsh was a student of Leo's father Willie so the comparision will be instructive.
More of Leo's 78 RPM recordings may be heard on the CD "Classics of Irish Piping" on the Topic label. Leo's 50s LP Ri Na Bpiobairi (The King Of The Pipers) has also been reissued on CD. Walton's has published an excellent book of Leo's transcriptions, the Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music.
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